Which of these school lunch challenges do you hate most? No matter what I pack in that lunchbox, my kid doesn’t eat it! Packing lunch makes our mornings even more stressful. It’s such a dull, relentless chore. Every. Weekday. All of the above. This time last year, I’d have picked d), no doubt about it. But these days I’d add a write-in option e): Challenges, shmallenges. My kid packs his own lunch! See, I figured out the secret to packing school lunches. Making this one change before ...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Let me get this out of the way up top: I’m not interested in football. I have no idea who’s in the playoffs. I will not be attending any Super Bowl parties. But I’ve been researching kid-friendly football-themed food for a piece I’m writing for Mom.me, and inspiration struck. There are only so many football-shaped foods you can look at before you start to wander around your kitchen, wondering what you can turn into pigskin… Cookie Dough Truffle Footballs are a riff on Cookie Dough B...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Let’s keep things short and sweet: You must try this. Really. I can’t remember the last time I created a recipe that offers so much flavor—and sophistication—for so little effort. Lemony Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan Crisps, my latest for mom.me. Do you have broccoli on hand? Lemon? Parmesan cheese? Sure, sure, you’ve seen those ingredients combined before. Maybe you’ve even seen them in a roasted broccoli dish. (Maybe even on this very site.) But two small tweaks in technique tr...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Got a package of puff pastry in the freezer? How about some hot dogs and/or potatoes? Your New Year’s Eve is made, my friend. Last year was the first time we let Harry stay up until real-deal midnight. Before then we’d always fudged things by a couple hours (doing so this year? check out Netflix’s new offering, an on-demand, faux countdown featuring King Julien the lemur). But Harry’s gotten too old to be fooled by such chicanery, plus he takes after his night-owl father so staying up...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Hanukkah ends tonight. We’ve eaten approximately eleventy million latkes, and Harry has opened nearly as many gifts. (If you dread stinking up the joint with latkes one more time, maybe you’ll do like me and make crispity crunchity smashed potatoes instead.) My birthday was yesterday, and to celebrate I stuffed my face at Pok Pok—more on that another time. Now all that’s left for my interfaith family is to make it through Christmas. This year, Harry’s jonesing for a tree ratcheted u...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
I’m sneaky. I never miss a chance to encourage Harry to eat new foods, but I don’t want him to notice. So at least one night of Hanukkah and maybe again at Christmas, he’ll get a gift that’s subtly food-related. This year it’s The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook—even if we never wind up baking Cauldron Cakes, he’ll read it in bed as if it were a real-deal HP book. He’ll dream about food, and someday, someday… Ahem. If you’ve been blessed with a kid who says, “No thank y...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
It’s 8:27 PM here in New York. My family’s dinner is done, but maybe in your time zone you’re in the grips of what-should-I-cook panic. Not to worry, I’ve got you covered! Twenty easy, irresistible, kid-pleasing recipes, all in one place. Choices include Lemon-Roasted Chicken & Vegetables, Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders, Polynesian Flank Steak, Honey-Soy Roasted Salmon, Italian Pasta Pie, plus fifteen more. If you don’t find something you want to eat on this list, I’ll eat my hat....| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Fine, so I did actually make this for Thanksgiving. But it’s so good I’ll be making it every chance I get, all year long. All I need is somebody to help me eat it, since my ridiculous husband doesn’t like cooked fruit (FREAK) and Harry can only fit so much pie in his eight-year-old body. Which leaves me most of a pie to stuff down my own pie hole, which… no. Anyway. There’s nothing wrong with a classic apple pie, but this here beauty ups the ante in some key ways: The bottom of the ...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Do you know what you’re looking at? Only the cutest thing you’ll see on a Thanksgiving table this year. They’re pumpkin rolls that look like pumpkins, and are actually made with pumpkin. For stems I used broken pretzel pieces, to keep them nut-free. Yes. That’s right. I can take no credit for these, not the recipe nor the shape. All I can do is pat myself on the back for baking them three years in a row, and tell you that since I pulled this year’s double-batch out of the oven...| Debbie Koenig, Writer
Yeah, we’re having one of those. Again. We’ll be celebrating the holiday with a handful of other food writers and their families, so it’s bound to be impressive—but also unfamiliar to Harry and, I imagine, intimidating. I expect my child to eat almost nothing from the vast array food on offer. I’m not stressing about it, though, since over the years I’ve learned a few tricks to keep our picky eater Thanksgiving legitimately enjoyable. I share eight of my best ones over at Mom.me t...| Debbie Koenig, Writer